Crypto Valley is considered one of the most "crypto-friendly" regions in the world. But what is actually happening within the blockchain ecosystem? The "Crypto Valley Roundup" is intended to provide insight and highlights selected events every two months.
With the first blockchain companies settling in the Zug area from 2013 onwards, the term "Crypto Valley" was soon born in reference to "Silicon Valley". Thanks to politics and regulation, Switzerland was able to create the necessary legal certainty for a flourishing ecosystem around blockchain and cryptocurrencies at an early stage.
The regulator has already been active since 2015. Internationally, this is very early for the blockchain sector. Not least because of this, the area enjoyed new company settlements and constant further development. In the meantime, the ecosystem has advanced into various industries and the Crypto Valley has also grown geographically far beyond the Zug area. So it's high time to take a closer look at what's going on.
Subsidiary of crypto exchange BitMEX launches in Switzerland
BXM Link AG, part of BitMEX Group, received confirmation of membership of the Association for Quality Assurance of Financial Services (VQF) in Switzerland this September. Due to the favorable conditions in Switzerland, this represents the subsidiary's first location in Europe. The company opened its first European office in Zurich in January 2022 with the aim of establishing and expanding a team in one of the European crypto hotspots.
Switzerland is building an impressive crypto ecosystem that has all the characteristics of an attractive location for companies like BitMEX Link, which are growing responsibly and innovating. The company sees investment in Switzerland as critical to expanding its service offering and growing its global footprint.
Rush for NFTs of the EV Zug (EVZ)
Since 1967, EV Zug has stood for exciting ice hockey action. Now the Zug team is turning over a new leaf. Its distinctive trademark, the bull, underwent a digital transformation and appeared as a digital collector's item as part of the first NFT drop by a Swiss ice hockey club. The unique 67 "Platinum EVZ Bulls" were sold out within 24 hours - the proceeds will benefit the EVZ young talent and the training concept "The Hockey Academy".
This makes EV Zug the first ice hockey team in Switzerland to venture into the fast-growing crypto sector. The second NFT series is also just around the corner. The project is reminiscent of Swiss Post's NFT stamps. After the first edition of "Swiss Crypto Stamps" sold out in a matter of hours last winter, the second edition followed this August. This one didn't bring Swiss Post's website to its knees again, but another rush caused all 175,000 copies to disappear within a day.
NFT art at the Swiss Digital Days
At the Swiss Digital Days 2022, technologies of AI-based art creation and the associated minting of NFTs were thematized. The population could directly participate in the collaborative creation of the artwork via a touchscreen art generator. By entering two terms to digitize, an artificial intelligence generated a unique artwork.
All the works created are motifs for the next issues of the popular crypto stamps issued by Swiss Post. During the seven weeks, the works were assembled into a large mosaic and auctioned off at the closing event of the Swiss Digital Days 2022 for a good cause. The art generator was still available at various locations until mid-October to contribute to the world record attempt for the largest collaboratively created work of art.
21.co becomes largest crypto unicorn in Switzerland
The company 21.co was founded as the parent company of 21Shares, Amun and Onyx. The Zug-based company became the highest-valued crypto startup in Crypto Valley as of September, with a valuation of around $2 billion, and raised $25 million in a funding round.
“My co-founder, Ophelia, and I set out with a simple mission to make crypto more accessible. Now, we’re the highest valued and largest tech startup in Switzerland and we’re still only in the early days. 21.co remains committed to building innovative products that meet investor demand as this asset class continues to gain rapid momentum.” – Hany Rashwan, CEO and Co-Founder at 21.co
The financing round was led by London-based hedge fund Marshall Wace and resulted in a valuation of approximately USD 2 billion. The newly raised capital is expected to enable the company to further drive rapid and targeted growth through innovative products, market expansions and strategic recruiting.
DeFi protocol MakerDAO acquires traditional assets via Swiss provider
MakerDAO, the protocol behind the leading over-collateralized stablecoin DAI, is gradually diversifying its balance sheet into traditional assets. In the process, $500 million will flow into "real world assets" (RWAs) and another $500 million will be invested in fixed income securities. Diversification into U.S. bonds will be done through Sygnum, a Swiss crypto bank.
While the proposal passed with a clear majority, the larger movement toward traditional assets represents a step in the wrong direction for some critics. The nature of blockchain technology allows for fully automated transactions that do not need to rely on an intermediary. The move back to traditional finance, they argue, reintroduces these intermediaries, leading to a lessening of decentralization and an increase in risk.
McDonald's accepts Bitcoin in Lugano
The Plan B Foundation, a joint economic initiative between the City of Lugano and technology company Tether, has now announced a collaboration with GoCrypto to officially launch Bitcoin, Tether and LVGA payments in the City of Lugano. "Plan B" aims to increase Bitcoin and stablecoin adoption throughout the city to positively impact all facets of Lugano residents' daily lives.
The campaign aims to accelerate the use of Bitcoin and use it as a basis for transforming the city's financial infrastructure. As part of this plan, McDonald's has been accepting payments in Bitcoin at its Lugano branches since October, in addition to its 19 branches in El Salvador.
